We have seen it all this year.
From the sublime to the not so sublime. Dreams have been made. Dreams have been broken. After all has been said and done, us football fans would not have it any other way.
Leicester City have paved the way for teams like us to really achieve something special, and although we were minutes away from lifting the FA Cup at Wembley last weekend, hopefully the lads have a taste that anything can be possible in the Premier League.
This season we have seen Jose Mourinho sacked by Chelsea, for a second time. He led them to the league title at a canter the year before but before the league had barely taken shape, the Portuguese’s side were out of contention. Fast forward four or five months and he finds himself in charge at Manchester United.
It has certainly been the year of the underdogs and no club has epitomised that more than Leicester.
You could also say Brighton were the underdogs in the Championship this season as they nearly, and I stress ‘nearly’, made it to the promised land. What the heck, they fell at the play off stage, once again. In fact, it was for a third time in four years! It is good being a Palace fan sometimes, getting to have a good laugh at the expense of those less fortunate rivals around us.
Let us forget about that South Coast outfit and return to talking Palace.
It certainly has been a season of two halves. The first was sensational and, well, the second was quite frankly poor. The only ray of light in 2016 has been our FA Cup run.
From being in the top six at Christmas, everyone was expecting us to push on, but it just did not happen. Injuries definitely cost us dearly. We cannot get away from the fact that we were not good enough on countless occasions from the start of the year onwards.
There is so much to look back on, but I will have to try and limit myself. There are so many talking points after what has been an unforgettable season for both Palace and the league as a whole.
For me, we have seen some terrific performances from individuals and then on the other side of the coin we have seen some rather abject and lacklustre ones. Part and parcel of being a supporter is sticking by the players who have not necessarily hit the heights.
New addition Emmanuel Adebayor certainly did not hit those heights. To be honest, I was not expecting too much from the former Tottenham and Arsenal striker. It was a gamble by Alan Pardew to bring him in and I think if you asked him today, he would probably say it was a gamble that did not really work. He scored one goal against Watford, and then for the most part strolled around during his appearances and not really having an effect.
Meanwhile, Wilfried Zaha has been immense this season and was rightly awarded the Player of the Season. In my opinion, Mile Jedinak’s second half of the season has been the best I have seen him play in a Palace shirt. He has been a steady influence and has led by example after finding his way back into the first eleven. In the FA Cup semi final and final he was one of, if not the best player on the pitch.
There is one player that has really stood out for me, and I suspect many Palace fans will say the same, but the Frenchman Yohan Cabaye has been a coup for the club. He has had his moments when he has been quiet in games, but overall his ability has shone through. If we can add two or three more players of similar calibre over the summer we can strive to push on once again.
Speaking of pushing on, one of the more important announcements our club made this year was the addition of David Blitzer and Josh Harris. The American millionaires already has a big interest in sport by owning franchises Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils in NBA and NHL respectively.
With the money to be made from the new television rights along with Harris’ and Blitzer’s investment, the club should be able to move on to the next level both on and off the pitch.
We have seen that our squad needs an upgrade, we need some quality in certain areas of the pitch, and if we can once again flesh the squad depth out again, I am hopeful of seeing Palace climb up the table next season.
This season’s FA Cup journey was rather special, we played a lot of Premier League sides and on another day at Wembley, we might have come away with the trophy.
For a lot of our players, that was one of the biggest games they had played, and despite what some people have said, I thought our performance was not at all bad. It was not the same up and at them style we saw against Watford, but we held our own against what is a strong side.
It would have been fantastic to see Palace lift the trophy but what is does do is remind us that this squad does have the capabilities to achieve something special with the right mix.
Now we have the summer to look forward to, Palace will go on the back burner just a little bit. We can be safe in the knowledge that with a few tweaks here and there, this squad can achieve something. Let us hope that is next season!
